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National News

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Topoff 4 Will Start Without Topoff 3 Results (Government Executive) “The nation is preparing for its biggest terrorism exercise ever” in the fourth Top Officials exercise October 15-19, “when three fictional ‘dirty bombs’ go off and cripple transportation arteries in two major U.S. cities and Guam,” reports the Associated Press. “Yet even as this drill begins, details from the previous national exercise held in 2005 [Topoff 3] have yet to be publicly released--information that’s supposed to help officials prepare for the next real attack.” [View article]

Justice Dept. Endorsed Severe Interrogations in 2005 (New York Times) “Soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued … an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency,” reports the New York Times. “The new opinion … for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.” (See the Nov. 11, 2005, Quote of the Week.) [View article]

U.S. Labs Mishandling Deadly Germs (Yahoo! News; USA Today) “American laboratories handling the world’s deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing as more labs do the work,” reports the Associated Press. (See the Stats of the Week.) “… the documented cases reflect poorly on procedures and oversight at high-security labs, some of which work with organisms and poisons that can cause illnesses with no cure. [See last week’s newsletter.] In some cases, labs have failed to report accidents as required by law.” Furthermore, “Federal terror-fighting agencies can’t identify all the American research laboratories that could become targets of attackers,” the Associated Press reported in a separate news story. “The Government Accountability Office asked a dozen agencies whether they kept track of all the labs handling dangerous germs and toxins, or knew the number. All responded negatively.” [View Yahoo! AP article] [View USA Today AP article] [View GAO report]

International News

North Korea Agrees to Shut Down Nuclear Program; North and South Seek Peace and Development (Washington Post; International Herald Tribune) “North Korea will disable key nuclear facilities by the end of the year and start disclosing details of its nuclear programs under a six-nation agreement released [Wednesday] in China,” reports the Washington Post. “The deal appears to have been aided by a ‘side understanding’ between Washington and Pyongyang that could accelerate the removal of North Korea from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The United States also appeared willing to accept, initially, more limited action than it originally sought to disable three key nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, with the understanding that additional work to incapacitate the facilities would occur later. In exchange, North Korea is expected to disclose the extent of its weapons-grade plutonium, including how much was used in a nuclear test last year.” A day later, “the leaders of South and North Korea agreed … on economic projects intended to spur reform inside the North and to forge closer ties between the Koreas, and pledged to work toward a formal peace on the divided peninsula,” reports the International Herald Tribune. [View Post article] [View Tribune article]

Germany Hunts Terror Cell Members (Newsweek) “German authorities have launched a worldwide manhunt for as many as 50 members and supporters of a suspected terror cell that was allegedly plotting to launch multiple car-bomb attacks against U.S. military and other American-related targets in Germany,” reports Newsweek. (See the Sept. 7 newsletter.) [View article]

Turkey Sees Upsurge in Terrorism (MSNBC) “One person was killed and 10 were injured in a series of bomb explosions in the Turkish city of Izmir on Tuesday amid mounting public, political and military anger about an upsurge in terrorist attacks in the country,” reports the Financial Times. “Two bombs exploded near a shopping centre in the Aegean port city, four days after a gun attack on a bus in south-east Turkey killed 13 people--all from the same extended family--in one of the worst such incidents for many months. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Izmir attacks. But the weekend atrocity was blamed on the [Kurdistan Workers’ Party], a Kurdish separatist group deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the US.” [View article]

Turkey and Iraq Sign Deal to Combat Turkish Kurd Rebels (Google News) “Turkey and Iraq on [September 28] signed an agreement to crack down on Turkish Kurd rebels based in northern Iraq, but Turkey failed to secure a right for cross-border military operations,” reports Agence France-Presse. “The two countries pledged to ‘prevent the activities of terrorist organisations and primarily the [separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party]’ Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay said.” The Kurdistan Workers’ Party “enjoys free movement in northern Iraq, where it has long taken refuge, and obtains weapons and explosives there for attacks across the border.” [View article]

Maldives Bomb Wounds 12 Tourists (New York Times) A bombing on September 29 “outside a crowded park in the Maldives capital, Male,” wounded “12 foreign tourists,” reports the Associated Press. “… It was the first such attack reported on the Indian Ocean archipelago renowned for its exclusive tourist resorts.” [View article]

FBI Takes Lead in Blackwater Probe (New York Times; Google News; MSNBC) “Guards working in Iraq for Blackwater USA have shot innocent Iraqi civilians [see the Sept. 21 newsletter] and have sought to cover up the incidents, sometimes with the help of the State Department,” says a report to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released on Monday, according to the New York Times. “… The shootings logged by Blackwater were more than those by the other two private military contractors combined … The Congressional report, based on 437 internal Blackwater incident reports as well as internal State Department correspondence, says that that Blackwater’s use of force ‘is frequent and extensive, resulting in significant casualties and property damage.’” A Congressional hearing was held on Tuesday, and “the FBI has taken over the lead from the State Department on the investigations into” Blackwater, reports Agence France-Presse. Blackwater “has had to fire 122 people over the past three years”--“roughly one-seventh of the work force that Blackwater has in Iraq,” reports the Associated Press. [View NY Times article] [View AFP article] [View AP article] [View report (1.02 MB PDF)]

Iraqi Civilian Casualties Drop 50% (MSNBC) “The Iraqi government reported on Monday that civilian casualties dropped by more than 50 per cent in September, a month in which US casualties also declined to their lowest level in 14 months,” reports the Financial Times. “All estimates of civilian casualties are contentious, due to the difficulty of obtaining complete data from conflict zones scattered across the country as well as the danger that statistics will be politically manipulated. But September’s drop is one of the most dramatic since the Iraqi government began releasing figures, and is in rough accordance with other data suggesting [that] levels of violence may be dropping.” [View article]

Al-Qaeda Financier Captured in Iraq (New Delhi, India, Hindustan Times) “Iraqi and US forces have detained a man [whom] they believe received $100 million this summer from Al-Qaeda sympathisers to hand out for ‘terrorist’ operations in Iraq,” reports Agence France-Presse. “… He was also linked to purchasing explosives and weapons for the February 2006 attack on the Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, widely seen as the trigger of Iraq’s sectarian strife.” [View article]

Accused Terrorist Extradited From Czech Republic Oussama Abdullah Kassir, charged in New York with conspiring to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda, has been extradited from the Czech Republic. He is accused of trying to establish a jihad training camp in Oregon and of operating terrorist websites. [View press release]

Irish Police Seize Explosives and Guns in Dublin (International Herald Tribune) “Police have seized components for three bombs, two handguns, ammunition and balaclavas in a raid on a suspected member of a dissident Irish Republican Army group,” reports the Associated Press. “… The raid came as part of a police investigation into organized crime committed by the Irish National Liberation Army, an anti-British gang that is supposed to be sticking to a 1998 cease-fire as part of the peace process in neighboring Northern Ireland.” The dominant faction, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, “renounced violence and disarmed in 2005.” [View article]

Canadian Nonprofits Avoid Counterterror Probes (Vancouver [British Columbia] Sun) “Non-profit organizations could be opening bank accounts and sending money to terrorists overseas almost completely undetected, the head of the [British Columbia] Corporate Registry [Ron Townshend] admitted Wednesday,” reports the Sun. “… there is virtually no scrutiny of the activities of thousands of registered non-profits that don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the Canada Revenue Agency as registered charities. Townshend said even if the federal government removes a charity’s designation for suspected terrorist links, it can still remain as a registered non-profit in provincial jurisdiction.” [View article]

Thai Cooking Prompts London Hazmat Response (London Telegraph) “Police cordoned off three streets and firefighters smashed down a door after reports of a chemical attack on a busy shopping street in London’s Soho,” reports the Telegraph. “But instead of a terrorist attack or a toxic leak, all police found was a Thai cook preparing chilli sauce. Emergency workers wearing protective breathing masks were called to D’Arblay Street on Monday evening after members of the public detected an acrid cloud of smoke. A Hazardous Area Response Team” emerged from the Thai Cottage restaurant “with a 9lb pot of chillies.” [View article]

Tainted Toothpaste Had Ingredients on Label (New York Times) Last May in Panama, Eduardo Arias “read the label on a 59-cent tube of toothpaste” and saw “two words that had been overlooked by government inspectors and health authorities in dozens of countries: diethylene glycol, the same sweet-tasting, poisonous ingredient in antifreeze that had been mixed into cold syrup [in Panama], killing or disabling at least 138 Panamanians last year,” reports the New York Times. After “Arias reported his discovery,” the poison toothpaste was traced to China (see the May 11 newsletter), and “health alerts have now been issued in 34 countries.… The toothpaste scare helped galvanize global concerns about the quality of China’s exports in general, prompting the government there to promise to reform how food, medicine and consumer products are regulated. And other countries are re-examining how well they monitor imported products.” [View article]

U.S. Africa Command Begins Operations (DefenseLink) The new U.S. military organization responsible for Africa began operations Monday, headed by Army Gen. William E. “Kip” Ward, with its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. “Plans are to eventually base the command’s headquarters somewhere in Africa,” according to American Forces Press Service. [View article] [View Africom website]

DHS News

DHS Delays Satellite Surveillance Imagery Sharing (Government Computer News) “The Homeland Security Department has delayed plans for a controversial domestic-surveillance program,” reports Government Computer News. “… Beginning Oct. 1, DHS’ National Applications Office (NAO) was to have overseen a program that for the first time would share imagery from U.S. spy satellites with state, local and tribal law-enforcement agencies.” (See the Aug. 17 newsletter.) But the House Homeland Security Committee “last month called for a moratorium on NAO funding for fiscal 2008 until appropriate privacy and civil-liberties safeguards could be reviewed and approved by Congress.” [View article]

Remote-Controlled Toys Will Get Extra Airport Screening (MSNBC) “Airport screeners will be taking a closer look at remote control toys in carry-on luggage due to concerns they could be used to detonate bombs …” reports the Associated Press. “Passengers--including children--carrying these toys may have to go through secondary screening.” [View article]

DHS Contracts for Help With Presidential Transition (Government Executive) The Homeland Security Department has “awarded a sole-source contract to the Council for Excellence in Government to conduct a range of activities aimed at ensuring a seamless transition” to the “new presidential administration in January 2009,” reports Government Executive. “The one-year contract is worth $305,000.” [View article]

DHS photo
Advanced X-Ray System Scans Containers in Charleston, SC OmniView--a high-energy rail-gantry X-ray imaging device--will speed processing of containers at the seaport of Charleston. The X-rays can penetrate 14 inches of steel. A 40-foot container can be scanned in under a minute. The new system is ideally suited for inspecting high-density cargo such as refrigerated containers of frozen foods. [View press release]

TSA Awards $52 Million in Tech Contracts The Transportation Security Administration has awarded $52.3 million worth of contracts to deploy security technology tested at airports and mass transit facilities: advanced technology X-ray, automated explosives detection for the checkpoint, bottled liquid scanners, passive millimeter wave, and a device to screen casts and prosthetics. [View press release]

DHS Awards $33 Million for Standoff Radiation Detector Demos The Homeland Security Department’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office has awarded $33 million in contracts to General Electric Global Research, Science Applications International Corporation, and the Naval Research Laboratory for standoff radiation detection system demonstrations. The goal of the program is to develop advanced nuclear detectors that can autonomously determine the type and location of radiation sources at much greater distances than current technology can. [View press release]

DHS Awards $24 Million in Homeland Security Nonprofit Grants The Homeland Security Department has awarded $24 million in fiscal year 2007 Urban Areas Security Initiative Nonprofit Security Grants to 308 nonprofit organizations deemed at high risk “of a potential terrorist attack.” The grants pay for target hardening and security screening activities. (Fiscal year 2007 ended Sunday.) [View press release]

DHS Awards $113 Million in Training Grants The Homeland Security Department has awarded the fiscal year 2007 grants under the Homeland Security National Training Program and the Competitive Training Grant Program. The former provided $84 million to design, develop, and deliver training content and support for state and local personnel in emergency management, public health, clinical care, public works, and public safety, as well as the private sector and nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations. The latter provides $29.1 million to develop and deliver “innovative training programs” addressing high-priority national homeland security training needs. [View press release]

National Flood Insurance Program Owes U.S. Treasury $17.5 Billion The National Flood Insurance Program, managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is unlikely to be able to pay its debt to the Treasury “because the program’s premium rates have been set to cover an average loss year, which until 2005 did not include any catastrophic losses,” according to the Government Accountability Office. Furthermore, “some policyholders … pay premiums that represent” 35% to 40% “of the true risk” and 1% of “insured properties that suffer repetitive losses account for” 25% to 30% of all flood claims. [View summary]

Secure Border Initiative September Newsletter The September issue has articles about the first 70 miles of new fence on the southern border, the first SBInet installation on the northern border, and Project 37 on the Arizona-Mexico border. [View newsletter (589 KB PDF)]

Container Security Initiative Ports Expand Last week, the Panamanian seaports of Colon and Manzanillo and the Egyptian seaport of Alexandria became the 56th, 57th, and 58th operational Container Security Initiative ports to target and prescreen high-risk cargo containers destined for the United States. [View press release on Panama] [View press release on Egypt] [View Focus on CSI]

Other Federal News

Federal Executive Boards Left Out of Pandemic Flu Plans Federal executive boards “bring together federal agency and community leaders in major metropolitan areas outside Washington, D.C., to discuss issues of common interest, including pandemic influenza,” notes the Government Accountability Office, but “their role is not defined in national emergency plans,” and they “depend on host agencies and other member agencies for their resources,” resulting in inconsistent funding and creating “uncertainty for the boards in planning and committing to provide emergency support services.” [View summary]

Fusion Centers Need Ongoing Federal Assistance “Most states and many local governments have established fusion centers”--“collaborative effort[s] to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity,” notes the Government Accountability Office. The Homeland Security and Justice departments have given “many fusion centers access to their information systems” and “provided security clearances for state and local personnel.” They have also “assigned personnel to the centers.… It is critical for center management to know whether to expect continued federal resources, such as personnel and grant funding, since the federal government, through an information sharing environment, expects to rely on a nationwide network of centers to facilitate information sharing with state and local governments.” [View summary]

HHS Buys More Anthrax Vaccine for Stockpile The Department of Health and Human Services is purchasing 18.75 million doses of BioThrax (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed, AVA) from Emergent Biodefense Operations of Lansing, MI, at a cost of $448 million. The acquisition, added to the current stockpile, will allow HHS to maintain a stockpile of at least 10 million doses of anthrax vaccine through 2011. [View press release] [View Focus on BioShield]

Transportation Dept. Sponsors Hazmat Training The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, through its Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness program, is granting $250,000 to the International Association of Fire Fighters, $372,000 to 12 American Indian tribes, and $1,242,800 to states and territories for hazardous materials response training. [View firefighters press release] [View Indian press release] [View states press release] [View Focus on Hazmats]

State and Local News

Texas Mayors Try to Block Border Fence Construction (Dallas Morning News) “Mayors along the Texas-Mexico border have begun a quiet protest of the federal government’s plans to build a fence along the border to keep illegal immigrants out,” reports the Associated Press. “Mayors in Brownsville [see the Quote of the Week], Del Rio and El Paso have denied or limited access to some parts of their city property to Department of Homeland Security workers assigned to begin surveys or other preliminary work on the fence Congress has authorized. Eagle Pass has denied a request to build a portion of the wall within its city limits.” [View article]

Judges Restrict Public Access to Pipeline Data in Washington State (Bellingham [WA] Herald) “Citing terrorist threats and improper procedure by a lower-court judge, the Washington state District of Appeals Division II panel” on Tuesday ruled “in favor of a coalition of pipeline companies that sought to keep certain pipeline data out of the hands of the public,” reports the Bellingham Herald. “… The data includes specific parts of the pipeline, like compression stations and valves. The information can be placed over other maps to see where those specific parts are located in conjunction with businesses or homes or perhaps environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands. The data was made public by the Pipeline Safety Act of 2000, which was passed after a 1999 pipeline leak explosion that killed three people in Bellingham.” [View article]

Oakland, CA, Airport Keeps Marines Out of Terminal (San Francisco Chronicle) “Marines arriving on a military charter flight on their way home from Iraq were barred from entering a passenger terminal at Oakland International Airport to greet family and friends because of security concerns,” reports the Chronicle. “… Airport authorities decided to keep the Marines at a remote location on the tarmac because the troops had not been screened and had their weapons on board when the p*** landed” on September 27. “Federal authorities, however, said the Marines had been screened when their flight out of Kuwait landed earlier in the day in New York.” [View article]

Gunman at St. John’s U. Tests Warning System (New York Times) “A text-messaging system that could send information about an unfolding crisis to individual cellphones” got the ultimate test on September 26 “when a gunman in a mask strode onto the St. John’s campus in Jamaica, Queens [NY],” reports the New York Times. “Though no one was hurt, the incident showed that large, dispersed crowds--at least 10,000 students were on the campus at the time--could respond calmly in the face of alarming information.” The security system designed by MIR3 “is now in use at 70 universities.” But “mass notification systems bring with them their own risks, chief among them the spread of rumors or bad information, said security officials at several area universities.” Columbia University “is developing a system similar to the one used by St. John’s”--which “may decide to make participation mandatory.” [View article]

Delaware State U. Will Announce Emergencies Via Text Messages and Loudspeakers (Wilmington, DE, News Journal) “In the aftermath of last month’s campus shooting [see last week’s newsletter], Delaware State University officials have decided to implement a text-message alert system for student cell phones,” reports the Associated Press. “… a so-called hot-button feature” would allow “a student to press a button on the phone to call campus police for help. Officials also plan to install a loudspeaker system around the campus.” [View article]

Agro-terrorism Drill in Washington State (Seattle Times) “The FBI visited a Monroe [Washington] dairy farm [September 27] to stage its first-ever training to prepare for an agricultural terrorism attack,” reports the Seattle Times. “Federal law-enforcement officers and agricultural groups spent much of the day at Werkhoven Dairy acting out the possibility of an attack on the food supply.… The aim of the exercise was to test the response of the various agencies called in to investigate, including how well they work together.” [View article]

Los Angeles Intl. Airport Tries Random Security Checkpoints (Newsweek) “Security officials at Los Angeles International Airport now have a new weapon in their fight against terrorism: complete, baffling randomness,” reports Newsweek. “Anxious to thwart future terror attacks in the early stages while plotters are casing the airport, LAX security patrols have begun using a new software program called ARMOR … to make the placement of security checkpoints completely unpredictable.” [View article]

Colorado State U. Opens Biolab (Denver Post) Colorado State University in Fort Collins “unveiled a high-tech, $30-million facility on its campus Tuesday, where researchers will soon study some of the world’s most deadly organisms, including viruses that cause brain infections and dengue fever and bacteria responsible for tuberculosis,” reports the Denver Post. “The new high-security Rocky Mountain Regional Biocontainment Laboratory is designed to contain these potent organisms and play a role in the nation’s defense against bioterrorism.” [View article]

Hundreds Deported From California (Los Angeles Times) “Federal officers in Southern California over the last two weeks have arrested more than 1,300 immigrants, most of whom either have criminal records or have failed to abide by deportation orders,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “… Nearly 600 of those arrested at homes, workplaces and in jails have already been deported”; 146 “were ‘collateral’ arrests--people who encountered the agents and could not prove they were in the United States legally.” [View article]

Two Derailments in Chicago not Sabotage (Chicago Tribune) “The derailment of two separate Metra trains Tuesday appears to have been caused by mechanical failure and was not the result of sabotage,” reports the Tribune. “… The FBI is no longer investigating the South Side derailment.” (See last week’s newsletter.) “… Agents had been looking into a possible link to last week’s vandalism of tracks on a different branch of the same train line,” the Metra Electric. [View article]

United Nations News

Detention Business Could Hurt Refugees, Says UN (Reuters AlertNet) “The growth of private security businesses in many countries means detention is often now being promoted as a means to deal with asylum-seekers, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday,” reports Reuters. “The privatisation of prison services and detention centres, is a particularly worrying trend, said Erika Feller, the” Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees. “Feller said asylum is a lottery in some regions, with states applying refugee convention standards inconsistently.… Security concerns and arbitrary detention left asylum seekers in legal limbo in many countries … Some asylum-seekers were unwelcome even if their refugee status or need for protection was unquestioned.” [View article]

Greece and Australia Join Sri Lanka in Calling on UN Member States to Agree to Global Pact on Terrorism A comprehensive global convention against terrorism must be concluded as soon as possible, Ambassador Robert Hill, the Permanent Representative of Australia, and Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yannis Valinakis told the General Assembly on Tuesday, echoing Sri Lanka’s call last week. (See the Sept. 28 newsletter.) Valinakis also urged all Member states to do all they can to fully implement the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which was adopted last year. [View press release] [View Valinakis speech transcript] [View Hill speech transcript]

Dual-Benefit Solutions

Thermal Cameras Could Spot Bombers and Shoplifters (USA Today) “Cameras that could spot suicide bombers carrying bombs strapped to their bodies will be used in a new test” by the Transportation Security Administration “aimed at securing the nation’s rail and bus stations,” reports USA Today. The “heat-sensing cameras … spot objects hidden under people’s clothing. The small, portable cameras can be positioned anywhere--at an entrance to a transit station or a building--and can screen people without having to require them to go through time-consuming checkpoints.… Manufacturer QinetiQ North America hopes to see the technology used at military bases, landmark buildings, large events, arenas and possibly stores trying to catch shoplifters … The TSA bought 12 machines from QinetiQ for $3 million to test in labs and transit stations in the next eight months.” [View article]

Dual-benefit news archive
Please submit events and educational programs by noon Wednesdays for consideration as items in that week’s newsletter.

Education

The Homeland Security Institute lists these education programs as a service to readers who may be interested; it does not endorse them or their courses. New education listings are posted for four weeks.

(October 21-26, November 11-16, and December 9-14; Moyock, NC) Mirror Image is an intensive classroom and field training program, designed to realistically simulate terrorist recruiting, training techniques, and operational tactics. Participants will receive insight into the mindset and rationale of terrorists through hands-on experience with the methods and means they use, plus education about the ideologies that motivate them and cultural dimensions that influence their decision making. [View course website]

Contingency Planning Management 2007 East (November 13-15; Orlando, FL) This course offers risk management education and opportunities to network with professional peers. Contingency planning management is dedicated to the convergence of business continuity and continuity-of-operations plans, emergency management, and security for preparation of comprehensive and effective plans. [View conference website]


New Upcoming Events

(After four weeks, new events will be moved to the Upcoming Events page)

Homeland Security: Coordinating Emergency Response With the International Community (October 22-23; Atlanta) This conference will address the care and protection of foreign nationals in Georgia during a man-made or natural disaster. Participants will become familiar with existing federal, state, and local emergency response plans and procedures; help identify any shortfalls that may exist in those procedures; and recommend potential solutions. [View conference website]

Homeland Security and Canada-U.S. Border Trade: Implications for Public Policy and Business Strategy (October 25-26; Windsor, Ontario) The conference will address American and Canadian perspectives regarding homeland security as it relates to Canada-U.S. border trade, review existing efforts to keep the border closed to terrorists and open for trade, and seek to identify economically and politically feasible public policy and private-sector strategies to achieve a viable and sustainable balance between homeland security and economic security for both nations. [View conference website]

(November 1-3; Atlantic City, NJ) The conference offers over 40 sessions divided into clearly defined tracks for the emergency medical services administrator, physician, educator, and all basic and advanced life-support providers. The faculty comprises physicians, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and other health and safety professionals. [View conference website]


U.S. Customs and Border Protection Trade Symposium 2007 (November 14-15; Washington, DC) This year’s symposium will focus on trade priorities and policies to help ensure compliance, enhance security, and promote continued CBP-trade partnerships. This collaboration enables CBP to incorporate feedback from the private sector into key initiatives, lessening the impact of new programs and ensuring that CBP and the trade advance toward a common goal. The symposium will cover topics such as cargo security, trade issues, the Automated Commercial Environment–International Trade Data System, post-incident business resumption, and global issues. [View conference website]


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October 5, 2007
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Contents
National News
International News
  N. Korea will end nuclear program
DHS News
  DHS delays satellite image sharing
Other Federal News
State and Local News
United Nations News
Dual-Benefit Solutions
  TSA tests thermal imaging
Education
New Upcoming Events
Website of the Week
Quote of the Week
Stats of the Week
State Site of the Week
  Georgia
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Website of the Week

The Search for International Terrorist Entities Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides information on terrorist networks to the government, the news media, and the general public. The institute searches extremist websites, public records, and international media reports and conducts undercover work to locate links among terrorist entities and their supporters and forwards leads and information to law enforcement and government agencies.

Quote of the Week

Brownsville, TX, Will Fight Fence

“This is exercising our rights. We are not going to make it easy for them.”

Pat Ahumada
Mayor of Brownsville, TX
Mayors Try to Block Construction of Parts of Border Fence
Dallas Morning News
October 2

Stats of the Week

U.S. Labs Mishandling Deadly Germs

An Associated Press review of confidential reports sent to federal regulators described numerous accidents in labs across the country involving deadly germs.

  • Lab “accidents involving anthrax, bird flu virus, monkeypox and plague-causing bacteria” were discovered “at 44 labs in 24 states”
  • Laboratories “reported 36 accidents and lost shipments during 2007”
  • “The number of labs approved by the government to handle the deadliest substances has nearly doubled to 409 since 2004”
  • “There are now 15 of the highest-security labs”
State Site of the Week

Georgia Emergency Management Agency

The Homeland Security Department’s Science & Technology directorate has a monthly newsletter, S&T Snapshots, featuring current research projects, concepts, and funding opportunities for homeland security at laboratories, universities, and government agencies and in the private sector.

[View September Snapshots]

Write for the Journal of Homeland Security
The journal publishes articles, commentaries, book reviews, and interviews. See the manuscript submission guidelines.
National Academic Consortium for Homeland Security

The National Academic Consortium for Homeland Security comprises public and private academic institutions engaged in scientific research, technology development and transition, education and training, and service programs concerned with current and future U.S. national security challenges, issues, problems, and solutions at home and around the world. From the consortium’s website you can visit the websites of registered academic institutions and learn about their organizations, research projects, technology development and deployment activities, education and training programs or courses, and service activities pertaining to international and homeland security.

Homeland Security Institute

The Weekly Newsletter of Homeland Security

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